Texas hired Steve Sarkisian on Jan. 2, so it would be interesting to take a quick peek at the phone records to see how many times the coach called or texted five-star quarterback Quinn Ewers of Southlake (Texas) Carroll that day. A guess? It was probably a lot.
Sarkisian was still in the midst of a national title run as Alabama’s offensive coordinator, but finding a quarterback to build his new program around became his top priority the second he took the job. Ewers, the No. 1 overall player in the 2022 class in the 247Sports Composite, was a good place to start. He is a Texas kid who initially committed to Texas after growing up a Longhorns fan, but that commitment was broken during the turmoil late in the Tom Herman era.
New start. New sales pitch. The speculation, predictably, was whether Texas could flip Ewers back from Ohio State, the school he committed to in mid-November.
Though rumors were running rampant, Ewers never gave any indication that he was willing to reconsider his Ohio State pledge. That doesn’t mean Sarkisian would stop trying, but a man in his position has to explore other options. With quarterback recruiting, time is always of the essence.
If Sarkisian wasn’t going to get Ewers, how could he come as close as possible to a reasonable replacement in the Longhorns’ 2022 class?
Sarkisian has answered that question in a resounding way.
On Saturday, five-star quarterback Maalik Murphy of Gardena (Calif.) Junipero Serra committed to Texas, and that commitment is a statement. If Sarkisian wasn’t going to land the No. 1 overall player in the country — who happens to live in a suburb of Dallas — due to circumstances that occurred before his hiring, he wasn’t going to let his recruiting class suffer.
Texas has been on fire since Sarkisian took over, with three commitments in the bag before Murphy’s announcement. Texas already had pledges from five-star running back Jaydon Blue of Houston Klein Cain, four-star receiver Armani Winfield of Lewisville (Texas) High and four-star cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau of Port Arthur (Texas) Memorial. All three are top-150 national prospects and all are in-state products. He is proving he can stockpile talent from his backyard.
But quarterback? The most important piece of the puzzle? Sarkisian went all the way to California to find a transcendent talent who has been compared to Cam Newton and Jameis Winston. Newton and Winston are very different players, but such comparisons come with the territory when you’re talking about a five-star high school player.
Murphy celebrated his birthday Saturday by making people further buy into what Sarkisian can do — if his play calling performance in the national title game wasn’t proof enough. Sarkisian went into Southern California — where he once was the head coach at USC — and nabbed a talent who could have easily stayed in the Pac-12 footprint. Maybe USC wasn’t the right fit, given the Trojans recently signed two top-75 quarterbacks in the 2021 cycle (Miller Moss and Jaxson Dart). But UCLA, Oregon and even Michigan were hot on his trail.
A 6-foot-5, 225-pound prospect who is still growing, Murphy has a monster arm and is incredibly accurate. As his high school career progresses, he’ll undoubtedly hear from other suitors and earn more scholarship offers. Prospects this good in Southern California don’t fly under the radar, especially under the presumption that California will actually play a high school football season this fall. This is a prospect who can pick where he wants to go to school.
And Murphy picked Texas, which is a testament to the idea that even though the program is going through a coaching transition, things are going to be just fine.
Winning the Big 12 and having a chance to go to the College Football Playoff is all about talent accumulation. Herman was actually quite proficient in acquiring that talent; Texas was ranked fifth in the 247Sports Team Talent Composite in 2020. Texas’ quarterback room is quite healthy, too, especially with Hudson Card, a former top-60 prospect in the 2020 class, in the fold. There is a lot to like about what Texas has on its roster, which was the case throughout Herman’s tenure.
Whether Texas will truly be “back” will be determined by how well Sark and his staff develop the talent and turn the elite-level players into NFL Draft picks. Since 2015, Texas has had 17 players drafted. That’s not close to Ohio State (50) and Alabama (42) — the teams that played for the national title — an indication that Texas is not doing a good enough job of developing its talent.
Sarkisian’s ability to develop and win at a more impressive clip than Herman can’t be put to the test until games begin.
But in the only part of the sport where we can judge Sarkisian’s progress so far — recruiting — he is exceeding all marks.
Landing a five-star quarterback from California five weeks into his new job? Show me a Texas fan who can’t get excited about the future when that’s happening.
Sarkisian was still in the midst of a national title run as Alabama’s offensive coordinator, but finding a quarterback to build his new program around became his top priority the second he took the job. Ewers, the No. 1 overall player in the 2022 class in the 247Sports Composite, was a good place to start. He is a Texas kid who initially committed to Texas after growing up a Longhorns fan, but that commitment was broken during the turmoil late in the Tom Herman era.
New start. New sales pitch. The speculation, predictably, was whether Texas could flip Ewers back from Ohio State, the school he committed to in mid-November.
Though rumors were running rampant, Ewers never gave any indication that he was willing to reconsider his Ohio State pledge. That doesn’t mean Sarkisian would stop trying, but a man in his position has to explore other options. With quarterback recruiting, time is always of the essence.
If Sarkisian wasn’t going to get Ewers, how could he come as close as possible to a reasonable replacement in the Longhorns’ 2022 class?
Sarkisian has answered that question in a resounding way.
On Saturday, five-star quarterback Maalik Murphy of Gardena (Calif.) Junipero Serra committed to Texas, and that commitment is a statement. If Sarkisian wasn’t going to land the No. 1 overall player in the country — who happens to live in a suburb of Dallas — due to circumstances that occurred before his hiring, he wasn’t going to let his recruiting class suffer.
Texas has been on fire since Sarkisian took over, with three commitments in the bag before Murphy’s announcement. Texas already had pledges from five-star running back Jaydon Blue of Houston Klein Cain, four-star receiver Armani Winfield of Lewisville (Texas) High and four-star cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau of Port Arthur (Texas) Memorial. All three are top-150 national prospects and all are in-state products. He is proving he can stockpile talent from his backyard.
But quarterback? The most important piece of the puzzle? Sarkisian went all the way to California to find a transcendent talent who has been compared to Cam Newton and Jameis Winston. Newton and Winston are very different players, but such comparisons come with the territory when you’re talking about a five-star high school player.
Murphy celebrated his birthday Saturday by making people further buy into what Sarkisian can do — if his play calling performance in the national title game wasn’t proof enough. Sarkisian went into Southern California — where he once was the head coach at USC — and nabbed a talent who could have easily stayed in the Pac-12 footprint. Maybe USC wasn’t the right fit, given the Trojans recently signed two top-75 quarterbacks in the 2021 cycle (Miller Moss and Jaxson Dart). But UCLA, Oregon and even Michigan were hot on his trail.
A 6-foot-5, 225-pound prospect who is still growing, Murphy has a monster arm and is incredibly accurate. As his high school career progresses, he’ll undoubtedly hear from other suitors and earn more scholarship offers. Prospects this good in Southern California don’t fly under the radar, especially under the presumption that California will actually play a high school football season this fall. This is a prospect who can pick where he wants to go to school.
And Murphy picked Texas, which is a testament to the idea that even though the program is going through a coaching transition, things are going to be just fine.
Winning the Big 12 and having a chance to go to the College Football Playoff is all about talent accumulation. Herman was actually quite proficient in acquiring that talent; Texas was ranked fifth in the 247Sports Team Talent Composite in 2020. Texas’ quarterback room is quite healthy, too, especially with Hudson Card, a former top-60 prospect in the 2020 class, in the fold. There is a lot to like about what Texas has on its roster, which was the case throughout Herman’s tenure.
Whether Texas will truly be “back” will be determined by how well Sark and his staff develop the talent and turn the elite-level players into NFL Draft picks. Since 2015, Texas has had 17 players drafted. That’s not close to Ohio State (50) and Alabama (42) — the teams that played for the national title — an indication that Texas is not doing a good enough job of developing its talent.
Sarkisian’s ability to develop and win at a more impressive clip than Herman can’t be put to the test until games begin.
But in the only part of the sport where we can judge Sarkisian’s progress so far — recruiting — he is exceeding all marks.
Landing a five-star quarterback from California five weeks into his new job? Show me a Texas fan who can’t get excited about the future when that’s happening.
